My heart is undivided, yet often in many places.
Part of me is always in heaven, part on earth, and part somewhere in between in dirt and glory….with those i love….
Feeling like this this week-a wide range of emotions and thoughts, intuitions and inner lament celebrations; but also feeling that belgian sky today, as we have a dear friend over at our place in Antwerp!
I love how sadness and rejoicing are tethered to the same pole in the Spirit, and deepen one another! And how the heart works in tandem.

Speaking the languages and the mediums of Love! How can we translate our love into the other person’s language and into their medium. The best medium they receive the weight and impartation of that love? One of the questions i often ask in communicating with friends globally is how can convey the message, the love, in a way which imparts the tone of my heart towards them?! What is the medium which most blesses them, and allows them to receive the love I have in my heart for them.

The key is discerning love regardless of medium. There are different weights of communication. We can discern them on line or off. Tone is everything, of course, but also considering how to speak in the tone of love in a medium which makes sense to the other person, matters!

There are different levels of intimacy, but when everything is equalized in media, we have to discern the weights of glory, the inner tone and weight of each communication. That’s just part of discerning the heart in our times!

Social media can challenge this, but can also be a great source of blessing to those who receive in that medium. I have some friends who can send two words via text or chat, and I cry from the amount of Love behind and between the lines. Others, i like a whole letter, with paragraphs and commas. It’s interesting the weight of communication in an era when there is so much communication. It’s still probably primarily about the intentions of the heart! How discern love behind and in between the words, becomes the receiver’s challenge!

I think you still can sense the weight of love behind the words, regardless of medium! Everyone is different, some people need that face to face in order to know Love. Other’s a long email, others a quick caring like. Good to know what makes you feel and enter Love, and also how others receive it.

But it is always about looking at the heart’s intention behind a gesture of love! That’s what i try to do anyway. And pray into figuring out what might make this person feel the most loved by my communication! Everyone is unique in that–how they receive love and give it! Of course, my dad delineated the five love languages, but how to put those in the many mediums now available to us is a new and exciting challenge, i think! Is this person a text person, a Facebook person, a long hand written letter person, a go visit face to face person etc. Good to consider as stewards of Love!

How can speak love in one another’s mediums of reception! This is an especially important question in a social media age! And it’s also often, a generational question. How can I convey my care to this person in their language, and in a medium which carries the weight of that Love!

The languages but also the mediums of Love matter. How the other person best receives your love matters. And is worth considering. I often ask before writing someone, since my language is language itself—words; is this the best medium to convey my heart’s care for them. Is email or a hardcopy letter better; is a phone call, a text… each of my friends tend to communicate in a unique medium. Should i make them a piece of art to express my care (which is one of my favorites!). Should i just go see them, or plan a weekend with them? Should I like their posts etc…good to think about not just the language, but now the medium to convey our love for one another in this era!

Jesus would feed or make breakfast for some people. For others, teach them, like Nicodemos; at other times, he would just sit with people to let them know they were loved. His Heart was always love, but He translated it into many mediums. So should we. So, what and how God is communicating His love to others both matter! Good media meditation today! For, the mediums carry the messages of Love.

Can I learn to speak better not just in the languages of love, but in the mediums which carry this love into another’s heart?! Been thinking about and trying to practice that recently!

Just as when reading a book or poem,to get towards the real meaning, we have to ask, what is the author’s tone–his or her orientation towards the words. So it is with modern media. The heart is what matters most in interpretation. Then as the heart grows, learning to speak on one another’s love languages and mediums become part of discerning and expressing God’s orientation towards one another!

Fun thinking about language and mediums both expressing our love towards one another well! Let’s become masters of communicating Love into one another’s hearts! Let’s become more like Word made flesh towards one another, and into one another’s lives!

Midrash on repentance as a daily basic spiritual practice:

“Whoever (person, city nation) conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy”.[Pr. 28:13]

“Repentance is given before anything else, by definition.”

To repent is to agree with how God says things really ARE. We are sinners, and in need of forgiveness and Mercy. It is to align with the facts about Reality. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God as Isaiah puts it. So we all need to repent—to confess, change and turn away from sin and towards God.

Looking at repentance again today! Good meditation in our times—the practice of repentance. The first commandment Jesus gave was repentance!

Repent-turn from and toward, change your mind about things, and act differently. Confess-agree with Him that you are a sinner. And accept His forgiveness, and offer it to others. Change starts in confession. It’s metaphysical, as we are sinners, and He is not, we need His Actual Life to make us pure or whole. God looks for a contrite (turned) heart.
To lust after is sin, for instance, because it means we do not trust God to provide what we really need, and instead take it by ourselves. It’s a sin related to coveting what is not ours. Forgive us Lord for lack of trust. For striking rather than speaking to the rock.
Greek—repent means to think differently after.
Talmud Yoma 86a). “Repentance and works of charity are man’s intercessors before God’s throne”.[5] Sincere repentance is equivalent to the rebuilding of the Temple, the restoration of the altar, and the offering of all the sacrifices.[6]

In the New Testament, the first command that Jesus gave was to repent.[Matthew 4:17] He thus repeated the message of John the Baptist.[Matthew 3:2][25] Jesus sent out disciples who “proclaimed that people should repent”.[Mark 6:12] In his Pentecost sermon, Peter the Apostle called on people to repent,[Acts 2:38] an appeal he repeated in his sermon at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple: “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out”.[Acts 3:19] Paul the Apostle likewise testified “both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God”[Acts 20:21] and said that “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent”.[Acts 17:30]

The Greek word used for repentance in the New Testament is μετάνοια (metanoia),[26][27] and the Greek verb for “to repent” is μετανοῶ, contracted from μετανο-έω (metano-eo),[28][29] as in Mark’s account of the initial preaching of Jesus: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Confession is our way home, if we believe in sin. It places us in the right orientation to contact the outstretched God.

When I worked with elderly who were dying they tended to either have regrets or true repentance at the end. Repentance can come earlier if we let it! It’s an orientation, to life. It was also the first commandment that Jesus gave. And John the Baptist made obvious. They were saying, get yourself in a place where you feel like confession is necessary. And turn away from what you are currently doing;. Change your mind and turn around.

God does’t want regret, He wants a contrite heart, that is true repentance. Regret is still us trying the fiend for ourselves. repentance, is realizing, we can’t.

Regret at the end, is un-dealt with sin. Repentance, is owned sin which can put us in a position to transform!

We have Peace on our land, that maybe the best gift for our creatures.

Regret is different than repentance—repentance includes admission of guilt, reception of forgiveness, and restitution to the degree that we can. At the end of life, people tend to either have regrets or repentance. Sorry God i sinned….Repentance means confession thanks praise and restitution…

In the New Testament Jesus told this parable: “There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.[Matt. 21:28-29] The word used here for “repent” means to change one’s mind, thought, purpose, views regarding a matter. It is to have another attitude or mindset about something.

This change is well illustrated in the action of the Prodigal Son.[Luke 15:11-32] The issue of repentance is also discussed in connection with the will and disposition. One of the Hebrew words for repent means “to turn”. The Prodigal Son said, “I will arise…, and he arose”.[Luke 15:18,20] The Prodigal said, “I have sinned against heaven”.[Luke 15:21]

In the well-known story of the Pharisee and the Publican, the Greek word used for repentance means “to be a care to one afterwards”, to cause great concern to another. This meaning is exemplified by the repentant person who not only has profound regret for his or her past, but also the fulfilled hope in the potential of God’s grace to continually bear the fruit of healing and true reconciliation within the individual, with others, and most especially with God. The Hebrew equivalent is strong as well, and it means to pant, to sigh, or to moan. So the publican “beat upon his breast, and said, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner’ “, indicating sorrow of heart.[Luke 18:9-14]

The part played by one’s will and disposition in repentance is shown in the confession of sin to God: “I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin”.[Psa. 38:18]

Let’s repent, confess, then thank and praise our way into His Presence today!

God made a covenant with Noah which included the creatures, in addition to the seven commandments for all of humanity, that last one dealt with ethical treatment of animals.

He wanted to tell us something about how to treat and relate to His creatures, how to partner with him in being better humans while on earth.

Been thinking about that recently-even in the jewish tradition, to be a righteous gentile-to follow Noah’s 7 commandments- includes ethical treatment of animals and the earth.

That it is for our own good to tend things well, even people who are weaker than us (you see the commandment to care for the poor-to do charity, was the only one which St Paul and Peter agreed on to transfer to christianity; St Paul, said it was the very thing, he was most eager to do!), and more vulnerable to our mistakes.

A good study to look at God’s care for the earth, and how He teaches us to be better people through care of His Creatures! Why God wanted to save, preserve and teach us how to care for the animals-Noah was not alone, he had all the animals with Him!

Maybe they are here to teach us of Him, still–just a meditation I’ve been having. Of course, He also made a covenant with the earth itself, which is a great mystery worth surveying!

Thinking about this as one of my dogs is sick this week. We are temporary parents of the planet, let’s do our creative partnership parts friends. Each sparrow, the Father has named. Just has He has each of us! Each name and identity matters forever!

When he let Adam co-name the animals–what a moment in the grand narrative. Are we not still learning their names-how to speak and call them forth in Love, and to speak, or have spoken, our own as we do!
Like

Music is always playing around us, if we listen well.

Taking The Risk of Engagement:

To the degree i risk engagement in Love, i and others will be made more whole; to the degree i hold back my heart, it and the other’s shrinks. Love calls forth true identity in all directions. We know something—art or people, or cities and nations- to the degree we risk engaging ourselves in Love for and with them. That’s also how and the degree to which we are healed and become healers of others.

Take the risk of depth engagement today! Why not! We are all worth it, in the end. And either way, we will meet God as we engage in Love, for as St John told us, God is Love. And Love is always where God is. This is one reason we are commanded to love the strangers, orphans and widows, and weak. It’s for our own good to do so.

To love your enemy is also to transform them and yourself. Love calls forth identity on both sides. Love always works in all directions. Part of the reason to love the “stranger” is to know ourselves! This is why both Jews and Christians were so adamant about this command—originally, of course, all Christians would have been the strangers intended!

We know one another, to the degree we engage in the relationship. That’s true with God and others. Love is not osmosis, it is active risk pursuit of Loving other to know them, especially those with the least Love extended towards them. I was a stranger and you let me “in”! Let’s let one another “in”! It’s for our own good as well to bless one another. For, it places us in the old Way-the position of Grace.

How art and healing relate—one of my favorite topics! Working towards and article on it! Thanks for your kind patience as i do….just some raw seeds of contemplation here:

What art can teach us about living well; how can we view art as a practice of empathy! How art appreciation relates to healing the planet and one another!

Don’t underrate perception in the healing process! As I see you, i will treat you! If I see you through my wounds, i will interpret you like that. If I see you more as God does, i will find myself loving you, and working towards your wholeness. Jesus saw the hearts of people, and acted accordingly. He did not judge by surfaces.

Most writers talk about being surprised by the perspective of their characters. I didn’t know they felt or thought like that. Something about entering into true empathy with others is one of the roles of art in spiritual development, and appreciation of art. Art is not superfluous to spiritual development! It’s a basic way of learning to be better people.

“Looking at art and beauty well, teaches us how to look at one another better! The practice of appreciating art from the heart, is a spiritual practice which teaches us how to treat one another as those “in God’s image”, which is our most basic human ethical imperative!” From a great book I’m reading on Christian/Jewish dialogue called, “For the Sake of heaven and earth”.

Or, as Martin Buber, the great jewish poet philosopher, might put it, “To the degree I engage others in Love, I will see them as they truly are, and know them into or towards wholeness. I can only know even a piece of art, to the degree that I risk my “I” in encountering and calling forth, their “thou”!

I still think this is true in art and life! To love our neighbors as ourselves, or to love the stranger, (which is a command in judaism, and implied in christianity, as Christians were the originally implied strangers-as were all gentiles)- who in our times is everyone, as we have become so inter-connnected- requires another level of ethical spiritual technology, or formation or incarnation of His Spirit in us, as MLK put it!

Viewing art and others well is one spiritual practice towards learning to love our neighbors as ourselves. Another level of the “heart of Christ” in us! Let’s implement that heart tech! So we can appreciate the art of others around us!

This is how looking well at art becomes an ethical practice for treating others as neighbors and family! In this sense, aesthetics, isn’t just for breakfast anymore-learning to see the beauty of other, the image of God in them, leads to how we actually treat one another.

It’s an imperative ethical practice to see well these days (sight comes before speech!)-good spiritual aesthetics, or seeing others and art more as they actually are through the lens of Love. For, if I see you more as God does, i will perforce, find myself loving you!

To see one another well—i.e. more as God sees us and them-is to help repair and heal (make more whole) our friends, cities, nations and planet. Let’s be participators in that grand reconciliation of true sight, friends!

Let’s be better art appreciators with one another. Sometimes, it just starts with looking at art well, as a practice. Empathizing our way into His Loving Vision of one another. In this sense, art becomes our learning to enter into God’s empathy for His Own Creation! Let’s! Aesthetics are underrated as a spiritual practice!

Learning to look well at art and one another displaces a pornographic vision of life-looking through our wounds versus looking through His.

It heals us, as we look well at art and one another-this is how viewing art can become a spiritual practice, rather than a superfluous luxury activity. To learn to see is penultimate to learning to Love well!

That’s my thesis anyway. We come into a deeper fellowship and communion with His vision and suffering by looking with Him at art, others and life, rather than viewing things only from our own vision. Art, in that way, becomes perceptual communion. We join His Sight of other. And our orientation shifts by conjoining with His!

In doing so, we become better people, art and life appreciators! Looking at art well is a practice for looking at others in God’s image and living well.

This is why aesthetics still matter as a spiritual practice. Art’s not just for breakfast anymore people! Our view, and interpretation of the world around us, is how we end up treating it! So let’s nurture our lenses well! And pick the right ones!

When we look at art with God, it helps us see more of how things actually are, or, will one day be. We then, become collaborators in seeing and being healed and healing (making more whole others and ourselves) what’s around us through the depth of our collaboration of sight! See well, to be well.

Everything wants to be fathered!
Each item, technology, plant or gadget, or person or city, looks eagerly unto fathering!
We are each children and potential fathers and mothers, meant to be stewards-potential parents.
We all look eagerly unto fathering! We want to be fathered. All of us.
Even when i look in my kitchen, at utensils and ingredients, they all want to be creatively fathered, yielded into order and identity in kindness, gentleness and wisdom. Everything wants to be fathered. It’s an intrinsic need of us all.
I’ve never encountered anything, which didn’t have an inner desire for fatherhood! We may not trust Father, but we all have a secret desire to be Fathered.

If you want to teach us Life through death, then do; death is just another deepening of trust; or, if you want to teach us through daily living, then do. Whatever the medium, teach us Yourselftoday, meet us through our passing circumstances, and teach how to be with You in everything. The medium is less important than the Message coming into us! Impart yourself through our daily circumstances Lord, whatever season of our lives we happen to be in, so we can be content while becoming who we really are while here!

Help us play whatever our parts are ours now!

I personally pray for EXTRA LIFE! Lord, thanks. I want to, like Joshua in Your Old story, live through three of Your great ideas!

Each item, technology or person looks eagerly unto fathering! We are each, meant to be stewards-potential parents. We all look eagerly unto fathering! We want to be fathered. All of us. Even when i look in my kitchen, at utensils and ingredients, they all want to be creatively fathered, yielded in kindness, gentleness and wisdom into their identities. Everything wants to be fathered. It’s an intrinsic need of us all.

I’ve never encountered anything, which didn’t have an inner desire for fatherhood!